Dmitri Levkovich in Rachmaninov

Over the decades, I have built up a good sense of which violinists I consider to be of major importance. I have never really paid too much attention to pianists, though recently my tastes have taken me into the pianist domains of Rachmaninov, Liszt and Chopin. The “old greats” such as Cortot, Kempff, Richter, etc. remain the old greats. But there is an interesting large army of first class “new” pianists, many of whom I judge to be “new greats” in their chosen repertoire. Foremost among my new greats are: Xiayin Wang, Yuja Wang, Maria Pires (not so new, but still going strong), Igor Levit, Zlata Chochieva, Katja Buniatishvili, Leif Ove Andsnes, Marc-André Hamelin, and Yevgeny Sudbin.

All criticisms as regards music performances are bound to be mainly subjective, rather than objective and factual. Like an elderly Colonel growling after dinner with a glass of port: “I know what I like, by G'ad”. I invested in a new CD by an unknown (to me) pianist: Dmitri Levkovich. Variously billed as “Ukrainian”, “Canadian” and “living in New York”, his playing of Rachmaninov's Preludes Opus 23 and Opus 32 did not find favour with me, maybe because by this time his connection with Russia and Rachmaninov is probably as nebulous as is mine. Strands of thematic material are not played clearly; Pravda's famous Shostakovich denunciation of “Muddle instead of Music” came to mind. Mr Levkovich reveals limited dynamic shading – the playing is anchored between mezzo-piano and mezzo-forte, with a preference for the forte. The sound is muddy, unlike the clarity of Rachmaninov playing by the likes of Xiayin Wang, Yuja Wang or Zlata Chochieva. Great conductors ensure that, in orchestral music, the texture of the music is clear to listeners; mediocre conductors produce a mushy sound, with little sense of who is playing what. I had the same impression with Mr Levkovich, and his CD of Rachmaninov will be filed on my shelves under “R” for Rachmaninov and that probably will be it. A shame, because the Rachmaninov preludes contain some first class music. Step forward Yuja, Xiayin and Zlata; we need a new set of the Preludes.